The tragic suicide of Emami [1] caused the organisation of GAMA to get in touch with us again [2]. Comrades from GAMA contacted me and comrade Avaness Moradian to express their condolences. These contacts continued and slowly created the conditions for a union between the two organisations. Without doubt a review of the activities of YEKA [3] that had taken place in a large meeting had a role in shaping the reunion between the two organisations. Once we saw that the conditions for a re-union existed, we raised the issue inside our organisation (YEKA). After weighing up the arguments in extensive discussions a majority within YEKA voted for a reunion.
We chose comrades Hassan Ordin, Avaness Moradian and Hunan Asheq to represent YEKA in the negotiations. Comrades Hassan Fesharaki and Hamid Sattar-Zadeh represented GAMA. After a few sittings it was agreed that members from both organisations draw up a draft program and constitution. There were many further meetings and finally SAKA (Revolutionary Organisation of Iranian Workers) was inaugurated with a central committee comprising the above five [4]. Each of the comrades undertook a different responsibility. Ordin, no longer with us, was in charge of the newspaper, Avaness Moradian was responsible for research, and comrades Asheq and Sattar-Zadeh also took on responsibilities [5]. As Dr Fesharaki was sent to do his military service Moradian took on his responsibilities for 18 months, whilst Fesharaki’s military service lasted .
By now, because of developments, the leadership of SAKA had changed. By 1969 SAKA had the following sections
1. Moradian was responsible for the provinces.
2. The newspaper was jointly run by Ordin and Sattar-Zadeh.
3. Sattar-Zadeh was put in charge of the organisational section.
4. Finances was under Hunan Asheq.
I took charge of some of the main Tehran sections of SAKA known as the active sections. Later SAKA created cells in Mashad and Isfahan which soon grew. We also attracted some people in Arak and Tabriz and started to train them. As SAKA spread it was able to create divisions in Mashad, Qazvin, Kashan, Shahr-e Kord, and Bojnurd. The creation of communist cells in large factories was spreading at a rate incomparable to the past. We were able to extend our cells in Tabriz Car Making, Iran National Tehran (now Iran Khodrow), Isfahan Steel Smelting Factory, Arak Machine Manufacture, the Railways, Central Electricity plant, and in Keyhan, Ettela’at print shops. In addition to the main labour centres, numerous cells grew in large and small workshops in Tehran and the provinces. SAKA began publishing its inner journal, distributed inside the organisation. During this time too links were forged with other left revolutionary groups such as the Palestine Group, The Jaryan Group, the Fadai’ and others. In any case our activity had taken on a unique momentum .
During this time, however, developments in the world and Iranian left movement had an undeniable effect on our organisation. The victory of the guerrilla war in Cuba under the leadership of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara created a powerful wave amongst leftwing forces throughout Latin America. The breeze blowing from the guerrilla struggles in Latin America reached Iran and influenced some leftwing groups, especially the passionate and militant youth, incensed by the savage slaughter unleashed by SAVAK. These fiery youth, filled with revolutionary energy chose guerrilla struggle instead of what they considered the political methods of traditional communists. They believed that the revolutionary vanguard must force cracks in the dictatorial shell through devotion and sacrifice, and by breaking the spell of mass inactivity, draw in the workers and labouring masses into the general armed struggle against the dictatorship. According to the theory of armed struggle the small motor (the determined and armed vanguard) can through its offensive actions mobilise the larger motor (especially the labouring masses). These theories were formulated in two pamphlets: Amir Parviz Pouyan “A rejection of the theory of survival” and Masoud Ahmadzadeh, “The armed struggle both strategy and tactic”. They became bedside reading for the supporters of the “urban guerrilla war”.
In 1970 this theory was put into practice through a series of military operations and the Siahkal uprising [6] started a new chapter in the guerrilla war against the Pahlavi dictatorship. A number of the younger comrades in our organisation fell under the spell of this form of struggle. In the summer of 1970 a section of the Isfahan branch of SAKA, wilfully, and without seeking advice from the leadership put into effect a plan to appropriate the Marnan branch of the Export Bank in Isfahan. During the action three comrades, Mahmood Navabakhsh, Ahmad Moa’yeni Araqi and Asqar Fattahi were captured. Hadi Pakzad who was observing the operation managed to escape. The captive comrades tried to mislead the interrogators by pretending to have planned a robbery for personal gain but soon their identity was discovered and resulted in the arrest of the members of SAKA in Isfahan. Me and Sattarzadeh recalled comrade Pakzad to Teheran and criticised their wilful acts.
The Isfahan branch’s action set off an unexpected confusion in the ranks of SAKA. Sattarzadeh suggested a national and unlimited dissolution of the organisation. He argued that the armed action in Isfahan will bring the entire organisation under attack. By dissolving the organisation members will be saved from arrest, or if arrested will have a lighter sentence. He suggested that once the storm had been ridden we can contact suitable members and restart the organisation once again. Clearly this was not a counsel to ensure the survival of the organisation, but an opportunistic advice of someone who had lost the will and determination to continue the class war.
An alternative view suggested“pretence” of dissolving the organisation. The second view gained support in an organisational referendum. Following this Sattarzadeh and his supporters left the organisation. Finally we informed the members of the “pretended” dissolution and returned their membership dues. We also sold the confectionary owned by my brother (who was an expert confectioner) and which was used to finance the organisation, for over 100,000 tomans and deposited the money into Hassan Oredin’s account. This was later swallowed up by SAVAK after our arrest.
[…. In March 1971 the attacks which culminated in the destruction of SAKA began. Albert Sohrabian goes on to describe the role of Satarzadeh in the arrests. …]
After a while we were able to follow up the sequence of events that led to our arrest and understand how SAKA was delivered such a blow. Included in the arrests of the Palestine group [7] was a certain Ahmad Saburi – known as “Ahmad Mao”. Saburi was garrulous and full of bravura but was actually empty and fragile and under interrogation showed serious weakness and handed over all his information to SAVAK.
Among the information he passed on was that he learnt Marxism from two comrades from our organisation Najji and Fereidoon Sattarzadeh (the eldest son of Hamid). SAVAK placed our comrades under observation. Najji recounted to me personally how he become aware that he is being followed and managed to escape the net using counter measures. But Fereidoon Sattarzadeh vanished for one week which raised questions for comrades in contact with him. After Fereidoon’s arrest came the arrest of his father Hamid, who in a deal with SAVAK exchanged the organisational chart for his own freedom and those of his sons Fereidoon and Frederick. The entire list of SAKA members, as known to him to the date he had split with us, was handed over. In return he only spent 17 days in prison. Sattarzadeh spent the rest of his days in disgrace and died in 1989 in Tehran in ignominy.
… Our comrades received from 6 months to 6 years. Those who, like the Isafahan comrades, believes in the armed struggle and had developed links with guerrilla groups such as the Organisation of Peoples Fadai’ Guerrillas received 10 years to life imprisonment. All those who received long-term sentences were released during the revolution. Behruz Soni’i, a prominent and militant comrade in SAKA was deported to the foul-weathered port of Bandar Abbas where he died following severe torture by SAVAK. He was from Khorasan and a student at the Agricultural faculty of Teheran University where he was well loved and respected among militant students for his exceptional character…
Thus with the blows in 1971 SAKA was destroyed. Some of its members continued their activity alongside one or other existing organisation after release during and after the [1979] revolution.
[Albert Sohrabian refused advise to leave the country and was arrested on Wednesday 14 or 15 April 1971. He remained there until released in 1978.]
SAKA was created at a time when the protest movement was taking shape in various corners of society and sporadic movements of workers and students as well as popular struggles were spreading throughout Iran. This was a time when many militant left groups, circles and organisations including the Palestine Group, Organisation of Peoples Fadai’ and tens of others were being formed. Most of these had drawn a line between themselves and the opportunism and conciliatory policies of the Tudeh and were searching for a revolutionary road to struggle against the dictatorship and for the organisation of the working class. This was a time SAKA came into being.
Yet because of a number of circumstances, in our society, which was pregnant with important political developments, the armed struggle became the dominant form of struggle in the revolutionary movement and attracted the majority of the youth and revolutionary activists….
In the consequent savage crackdown, SAVAK was aided by Mossad and CIA, using the latest techniques for suppression of socialist and revolutionary movements. Under these circumstances all political groups set up in the years after 1967 were under attack and they were subsequently destroyed under the rabid and savage repressive machinery of the monarchy.
Yet, unlike its predecessor YEKA, SAKA managed to escape from an inbred inward looking group and began creating communist cells in many factories and work places. Its activities rapidly spread. The positive aspects of SAKA showed that:
Firstly conditions for political activity amongst workers and for attracting them to organised communist political activity existed. As I outlined SAKA was able in the mere four years after 1967 to create communist cells in the most important manufacturing centres… all despite the dictatorship.
Secondly SAKA showed that workers, despite coming from the depth of poverty and deprivation, despite lacking access to culture and knowledge, can through taking part in the workers movement for freedom and socialism, achieve a level of knowledge and consciousness sufficient for becoming a political activist and can intervene in their own political destiny. Veteran political prisoners attested to the fact that when the members of SAKA were transferred to Qasr prison the entire atmosphere of the prison was overturned with the arrival of these workers. Dariush Forouhar [8] on seeing our comrades had said: “it became clear that you can create political cadres from workers”.
Thirdly SAKA, despite focusing on workers did not ignore work among youth, students and intellectuals. Our comrades were involved in the student struggles in university and we were able to attract political activists to our ranks from students. Behruz Soni’i was a shining example.
Finally, though SAKA suffered from major faults as well, some of which it had inherited from its predecessor YEKA. Struggle under the yolk of a highly repressive despotism needs an organisation of professional revolutionaries who have total mobility and knowledge of how to avoid the political police in order to protect the organisational activity. … Otherwise people like Sattarzadeh can appear and hand over their information to the security apparatus of the enemy. This is the undoubted experience of the struggle against two dictatorships that have ruled Iran in recent history. It is important to create the right relationship between the underground organisation, divided into small groups of cadres, and preferably in an area safe from repression, and the forces of mass action.
This is an abridged translation of a chapter of “My memories of the labour movement in Iran” by Albert Sohrabian covering the labour movement between 1940-1970. Bidar Publications, Hannover, 2000.
1. Emami, a veteran Marxist had been instrumental in creating the Kruzhuk movement – modelled on the pre-revolutionary Russian Marxist circles – in 1943-44 in opposition to the reformist policies of the Tudeh Party. When the Kruzhuk movement was destroyed by the police Emami founded YEKA which stood for Iranian Communist Yadro [Russian for nucleus].
2. GAMA [Revolutionary Marxist Group of Iran]. Its predecessor had a short-lived unity with YEKA. They later reunited to form SAKA.
3. see note 1.
4. Not to be confused with the Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of Iran (Rahe Kargar) which was born inside the Shah’s prisons in the late 1970’s.
5. In translation I have omitted the word Comrade and the repetition of the first name for clarity’s sake.
6. The Organisation of Fadai’ Guerrillas of Iran initiated the guerrilla war by attacking a police station in Siahkal, in the Caspian province.
7. Palestine – a guerrilla group who got their name because they were trained by the PLO in Palestine.
8. Dariush Forouhar and his wife Parvaneh Eskandari belonged to the nationalist ….. both were savagely murdered in 1997 by agents of the security ministry of the Islamic regime.